Introduction: Why This Guide Matters

In this detailed guide, we’ll cover:

1. Why hiring a SharePoint consultant is often better than going in-house
2. Key criteria to evaluate consultants
3. The questions you must ask before signing a contract
4. Common mistakes to avoid
5. Freelancer vs. consulting firm - pros and cons
6. A practical hiring checklist
7. Conclusion: What kind of partner your business really needs

1. Why Hire a SharePoint Consultant?

Many organizations begin their SharePoint journey with internal IT or a basic out-of-the-box setup. But they soon hit barriers:

• Low user adoption
• Poor navigation and UI
• Inconsistent file governance
• Inability to scale for business needs
• Missed automation and integration opportunities

What a SharePoint Consultant Brings:

• Deep platform expertise: SharePoint Online, SPFx, Power Platform, Teams, Microsoft Graph, etc.
• Strategic alignment: Matching SharePoint’s capabilities to your business goals
• Process mapping and workflow design
• Knowledge of compliance (GDPR, HIPAA, ISO) and secure architecture
• Post-launch support, training, and optimization

Think of a consultant not just as a technician, but as an intranet architect who ensures your digital workplace performs at every level.

2. Key Criteria to Evaluate a SharePoint Consultant

Choosing the right consultant isn’t just about experience or pricing. You need a well-rounded partner.

Key Evaluation Criteria:

A. Experience & Portfolio

• Do they have a track record of successful SharePoint deployments?
• Have they worked in your industry or with your use case?

B. Business Understanding

• Can they translate business challenges into platform solutions?

C. Design & UX Skills

• Do they offer modern, branded, user-friendly designs or just functional backends?

D. Custom Development Capability

• Can they build SPFx web parts, automate flows, and integrate with Teams, Power BI, and Azure?

E. Communication & Transparency

• Will they walk you through every phase, or just drop a delivery?

F. Support & Training

• Do they train internal admins and end-users for long-term success?

3. Questions to Ask Before You Hire

A consultant’s true value shows in how they respond to these questions:

Strategy & Planning

• What is your approach to understanding our business needs?
• How do you decide between out-of-the-box features and custom development?

Implementation & Delivery

• What’s your delivery methodology? Agile? Waterfall? Hybrid?
• Can you give us a timeline with milestones and checkpoints?

Adoption & Training

• How will you ensure adoption across departments?
• Do you offer training sessions, videos, or documentation?

Post-Launch Support

• What does your support structure look like after go-live?
• How do you handle future feature requests or troubleshooting?

4. 5 Costly Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring a SharePoint Consultant

Hiring the wrong consultant leads to low ROI and high frustration. Here are mistakes you should avoid:

Mistake #1: Hiring for Cost, Not Capability

Low-cost freelancers or agencies may lack the depth needed for complex setups, resulting in patchy work that requires rework.

Mistake #2: Ignoring UX and Branding

A clunky UI kills adoption. A great SharePoint consultant should care about layout, navigation, and branding as much as backend logic.

Mistake #3: No Roadmap or Governance Plan

Without a roadmap, SharePoint turns into a dumping ground. Consultants must help you structure libraries, permissions, metadata, and workflows.

Mistake #4: Not Involving End-Users Early

User feedback helps shape a usable, useful system. If you don’t involve real users early, expect resistance at launch.

Mistake #5: No Post-Implementation Support

A consultant who leaves right after go-live can leave your internal team stranded. Support, iteration, and governance are essential.

5. SharePoint Freelancer vs. SharePoint Consulting Firm: Pros & Cons

Depending on your project’s complexity, timeline, and internal capacity, you might consider a freelancer or a full consulting team.

Freelancers

Pros:

• More affordable
• Fast for small tasks or isolated issues
• Flexible for short-term work

Cons:

• Limited skillset (often one-person team)
• Risk of unavailability or bandwidth issues
• Little to no project management or documentation
• No support continuity

SharePoint Consulting Firms (Like SharePoint Designs)

Pros:

• Team-based expertise (UI, backend, architecture, governance)
• Better quality assurance and peer review
• Defined SLAs, training, and documentation
• Long-term support and scalability

Cons:

• Higher investment (but also higher ROI)
• May require more structured planning

Tip: Choose a freelancer for one-time help. Choose a firm for enterprise-wide impact.

6. SharePoint Consultant Hiring Checklist

Use this checklist before making a final decision:

• Can they demonstrate relevant, recent SharePoint projects?
• Do they understand business processes beyond just SharePoint tech?
• Have they asked about your end-users, pain points, and KPIs?
• Can they balance out-of-the-box and custom solutions intelligently?
• Do they offer user training and documentation?
• Are they clear about scope, timelines, and pricing?
• Do they support post-launch optimization?
• Do they bring design, automation, and compliance thinking into one plan?

7. Final Thoughts: Hire for Growth, Not Just Setup

A SharePoint consultant isn't a plug-and-play hire. You're choosing a partner who will define how your team works every day, how they collaborate, how they find information, how they feel about internal tools.

At SharePoint Designs, we bring the full package:

• Branded and user-friendly intranets
• End-to-end DMS and KMS setups
• Process automation with Power Platform
• AI integrations and Copilot agents
• Deep understanding of your people, not just your platform

We don’t just build SharePoint portals, we maximize your team’s performance through smarter digital workspaces.

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If you're exploring SharePoint for the first time or need to fix what's already built, we're happy to help.

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